Mistaken Happy Endings
by briarrose19
Summary: The first term of the final year of the marauders and their escapades, romantic and otherwise.


**Mistaken Happy Endings**

**Co-Written by Forgottenphoenix19 and Gypsy under the Moon**

**Chapter One: Skinny Dipping**

The only visible thing within the moonlit clearing was a floating roll of cling wrap. It weaved along, seemingly supported by nothing but air. A shout suddenly broke the still of the night, followed by laughter.

"Ouch! Wormtail that was my foot!"

As though by magic, four teenaged boys appeared out of nowhere. The roll of cling wrap dropped to the ground, the boy who had spoken jumped at the one called Peter, nicknamed Wormtail. His shoulder length black hair streamed behind him as he lunged for the small, unsuspecting, round faced boy.

"Sirius cut it out," said a tall wiry youth, but his amber eyes held a mirth that took all the force out of his words. The last youth brushed his unruly black hair away from his eyes in an attempt to hide his glee. James Potter loved seeing his friends bicker like this; it reminded him of six years filled with exploits and mayhem at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Sirius straitened and pulled his hair back revealing a finely chiselled face with silver grey eyes. A wicked grin lit his feature as he glanced at his best friend James. He turned to face the amber eyed youth, Remus, but not before giving Peter a slight kick.

"Just having a little fun" Sirius stated as he reached down and pulled Peter to his feet. Remus' disapproving scowl disappeared at this action. Sirius retrieved the cling wrap from the ground and the four then proceeded to stand around a tree. "This seems like a good spot."

"I still think it would be a good idea to cover him in chocolate" Peter stated with disappointed.

"And watch Remus lick it off him? Eww that's horrible thought. I'm gonna have nightmares for weeks."

"Hey I heard that James!"

Meanwhile, three small figures ran across the lawn in front of the castle towards the lake. The smallest of the figures was leading the way and dragging a somewhat reluctant girl after her. The one in front had a determined look on her soft featured face. Her auburn hair fell to her shoulders and her green amber eyes held no possibility of gainsaying. The girl in tow had attempted to dig her heels into the ground while her grey blue eyes frantically searched her surroundings.

Lily Evans rolled her beautiful emerald green eyes as she watched her two best friends struggle towards the lake. Faylinn appeared to be a little bit skittish, but if Amaris was dragging her she supposed she'd feel the same. Amused by their immature antics Lily began to tug at her thick red hair, an annoying tick she had developed to prevent her from showing amusement with the mischievous Marauders. They reached the edge of the lake and skirted around some trees till they were hidden from view.

"I know this a tradition but in case you haven't calculated our odds, chances are that we will get caught this year" said Faylinn wearing a worried expression on her lovely face.

"Relax Fay, we haven't been caught for six years and it's not going to happen now." Amaris shrugged off her robe when an evil grin began to spread across her face.

"But that's the point. That means we'll be caught this year!" Faylinn turned her pleading face to Lily and failed to notice Amaris circle behind her.

"You're forgetting Fay, I'm Headgirl so I can make sure you don't get assigned to anyone horrible for detention and I won't even take off any house points. After all we wouldn't want the Gryffindors getting into trouble for your antics." Lily smiled innocently at her friend hardly able to stop herself from reaching up and tugging at her hair.

"Thanks that's really helping matt-"

Fay's reply was cut off as she went tumbling headfirst into the lake thanks to a gentle tap from Amaris. The latter smiled wickedly as her friend began to sputter, and Lily lost all control at this point breaking into maniacal laughter.

"The whole point of skinny dipping, implied in _skinny_, is that we're supposed to be naked!" A disgruntled Fay snarled at the other too. Realizing the hilarity of her statement she quickly joined the laughter of the other two girls.

_That's Faylinn for you_ thought Lily, _she always able to laugh at herself and quick to forgive._

"Ouch!"

"What was that?" Lily exclaimed.

"Oh no, it's a professor. I knew this was a bad idea!" Faylinn said while tripping as she attempted to scramble out of the water.

"Oh Fay, don't be ridiculous, it's coming from the woods."

"Don't oh Fay me Amaris! You don't know if it was a professor or not."

"Fine then I'll go find out." Amaris stated before pushing Fay back into the water, turning on her heels and loping into the woods.

A few moments later Lily and Faylinn heard another shout from the woods. Glancing at each other they quickly sprinted after their friend.

Amaris stealthily crept through the woods towards the distant sound of voices. She could see a clearing up ahead and suddenly the woods grew very silent. Soon she was stepping into the clearing having already checked for the owners of the voices.

_Something's not right_. The thought crossed her mind swift as a knife. A rush of air and a muted thump, and the next thing Amaris knew she was pinned up against a tree by a pair of rough hands.

"_Silencio_" Sirius shouted,

_Damn, the Marauders are up to their old pranks again_. Suddenly Amaris clued in to the fact that whoever's hands were holding her against the tree were inappropriately placed. The panic started to set in along with some unsettling thoughts. The foremost being, _these better not be Peter's hands or I am gonna kill him_! She struggled against her captor when suddenly his voice ceased all her attempts to break free.

"Um guys…this is a girl" Remus' voice was thick with shock. These words failed to have any effect on Peter who ran forward with such a look of desperate excitement that you almost had to feel bad for the disappointment he was about to receive. With the cling wrap stretched between his hands he ran forwards until he made contact with Sirius' foot and sprawled forward to land at Lupin's feet.

"_Lumos_" James said very quietly and reluctantly. The beam of light fell across Amaris' fuming face and Remus removed his hands as if she was on fire. The result being Amaris was unceremoniously dropped to the ground to land beside Peter. She regained her feet quickly just as Sirius with an expression as pained as the one James wore removed the silencing charm.

However, the reaction of Amaris surprised all four boys. She didn't hex them or even scream at them. Instead she launched herself directly at Remus taking him cleanly off his feet, and then commenced to pummel him senseless.

"_You idiot!_" she screamed with a completely choked voice.

It was this scene, of Amaris beating Remus with the three other Marauders looking on in shock, which greeted Lily and Faylinn as they entered the small clearing.

"What the _hell_ is going on?" Lily screamed at no one in particular, as Faylinn ran to pull Amaris off Remus before she did anything she would regret later. All four boys turned to face the angry redhead.

"James Potter, you are Headboy what the hell do you think your doing inciting this type of riot?" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Well Lily you see…" James tried to squeeze in as she filled her lungs with air for the second round. "Wait a second, what are you doing out of the castle at this time of night?" he cut her off.

"That is _not_ the point" Lily said while her eyes narrowed dangerously.

Suddenly Fay noticed that Sirius Black, the notorious Hogwarts heart throb, seemed to have been inching minutely closer to her ever since she had entered the clearing. His eyes hadn't blinked in about a minute and she started becoming aware of how her wet robes were clinging to her body.

As James started to protest again, Lily thought better of starting another year of all out war with him since they had just resolved their ongoing standoff the previous year. Instead she turned on her heels and led the way back to the castle with her two friends trailing behind. Except this time it was Fay dragging Amaris as the latter attempted to kill the Marauder's with her eyes alone. They were making swimming progress until Fay suddenly tripped and that's when Amaris really started to worry.

"Hey, maybe we should have used the chocolate after all" James joked. Remus turned his face towards his friends as they broke out in laughter, and a flush slowly crept up his face.

Hearing the laughter the girls stole one last glance towards the woods before promptly walking up to castle. At the main entrance they encountered Severus Snape heading towards the woods. Lily nodded at him and greeted him with an amiable "Severus" before waltzing into the main entrance. The other girls followed suit leaving a confused boy standing at the door.

**Chapter Two: Misunderstanding Halloween**

Lily and Amaris walked into the library with a look of determination on their faces. They spotted their friend's unruly hair at a corner table and quickly proceeded to her. They took a seat on either side of Faylinn and stared silently willing her to start the conversation. Fay stared at them with an oddly blank expression. Obviously she had no idea why they were there.

"So" Amaris said breaking the silence. "Are you going to come out with it or are we going to have to drag it out of you?" Fay continued to look bewildered so Lily stepped in with her usual bluntness.

"For god's sake Fay you've been tripping for over a month. Please, tell us why you're so nervous?" Fay began to squirm and play with her necklace. Oh well it was high time she confessed to her best friends.

"Well, do you remember the incident in the woods?" She said slowly while noticing that a grin was beginning to spread over Amaris' face. "Um…well I happened to notice Sirius…looking at me!" A slow blush started to creep over Fay's feature. Her friends began to exchange a look and that just intensified her embarrassment.

"You like him don't you?" Lily asked in a questioning voice.

"I don't know, I don't know what I am feeling for him."

"Maybe like you want to jump him when you see him in the hallways?" Amaris smirked.

"Jump him? No that would be your reaction to Remus." Fay reached over and patted her friend on the shoulder with a patronizing look plastered on her face. Amaris began to look as if she would argue, but in the end she just shrugged.

"Pay up Lily dear, you owe me five galleons." Lily looked angry but soon passed over the gold. Fay looked over at them and what was going on started to dawn on her.

"You've been placing bets on me!" Her voice was dead cold. Lily and Amaris backed away quickly and ran from the library giggling at her fuming look.

_Excellent. Now back to "studying"._ As she pulled out the novel she had been hiding in her back and proceeded to return to her entertainment.

Sirius had been watching Faylinn out of the corner of his eyes since he had followed her into the library. He saw her friends approach and speak to her and the blush that had risen to her cheeks.

_She looks so pretty when she blushed, her white alabaster skin turning brilliant rose. Best of all though are her eyes, such an interesting colour._ He could sit for hours debating whether they were blue or grey.

_The blue of a sky before a summer storm and the grey of the rain clouds that veiled the threat of the coming turmoil; that was their colour_. Glad to have finally settled this befuddling question he leaned back and got comfortable so he could better watch Fay while attempting to look as if he was bored.

_Best of all is her hair though. It seems to have a mind of its own_. His hands ached to go tug at it playfully.

_Shit,_ he thought. _Faylinn is really starting to get to me. Double shit._ He couldn't even stop himself from reacting to her name. It made him shiver ever so slightly. Sirius had never felt any fear about approaching girls. Usually he had them fawning all over him. But Fay was different. Not only did she not fawn over him, she hardly seemed to notice him. To Sirius she was a definite enigma, but one that he planned on solving. Gathering up his courage he stood up and sauntered over to her table. Sitting down beside her he casually drew himself to rest against her side and looked over her shoulder.

"Hey Bookworm, what's that your reading?" he whispered in her ear.

"Um…nothing, I'm studying….." she replied while attempting to hide the cover of the book.

"Oh, really, and what sort of text book is called _My Scottish Summer_?" he asked playfully.

"Oh, um….its a research account…done by a wizard ...a look into the behaviours of...Scottish…muggles." She mumbled unconvincingly.

"Well, if that's the case, fancy doing some research of our own?"

"What!? I don't….what!! Quit making fun of me, I like to read, so what!!" She stormed out of the library without a backwards glance, managing to trip right before rounding the corner and heading out of sight.

As Lily walked into the common room she stole a sly glance at James Potter who was currently playing chess with Remus. As much as

she hated to admit it, the boy certainly had been growing on her since the beginning of the year. No, she could fully admit it was no longer torture to wile away an hour watching him across the commons room. Ah, well she could do that later. Right now she needed to find her friends. She proceeded to climb the staircase and found them both sitting in their dorm.

Amaris was using a tone of voice that Lily rarely heard her friend adopt. She appeared to be consoling 'Faylinn over the Sirius library incident'.

"But you realize don't you Fay that Sirius was actually attempting to make small talk, so to speak. Well, it's Sirius, so you know what I mean."

"What? He wasn't making fun of me?"

"No Fay."

"Oh…." Suddenly her face became a wee bit dreamy and that was the end of Amaris' nicety.

"Oh hey Lils" the girls said in unison seeing her approach.

"Hey, I was thinking that maybe we could celebrate Halloween in the muggle style this year." She proposed with a wicked smile on her face and with those little words she set a very embarrassing chain of events in motion…

"What on earth are you wearing Fay?" Lily asked her friend.

It was midnight on Halloween, and the three girls were standing in Moaning Murtle's bathroom. There was candy all over the place. Amaris was dressed as a pirate with tight black trews and knee high boots. She wore a white puffy shift opened to reveal a black bra. A red sash surrounded her waist and accented her slender hips. A bright scarf held back her hair and a sabre rested against her leg. Lily was dressed in her school uniform, but in a size too small and without the robe. The top hardly covered any of her skin, and the skirt was barely decent. However Fay had taken the idea of Halloween quite literally. After much thought and debate, she had settled on her present costume. She was wearing a vibrant pink, complete with hood and ears, bunny suit. She had even drawn on the whiskers.

"What do you mean? It's my costume!" she replied defensively.

"Hey bunny, your research was a bit lacking. The whole point of Halloween is to push the boundaries…you know…and not feel bad about it." Amaris told her friend.

Just then James, Sirius and Remus entered the washroom, having seen the girls gathered there on the Marauder's Map. Whatever they had been expecting, that wasn't it.

**Chapter Three: Flustered Flight**

Faylinn took one look at Sirius and bolted for the bathroom stalls before anyone could stop her. He never even managed to snap his jaw shut.

Meanwhile James was eyeing Lily with a hungry look. He had tried so hard to stop annoying her this year, and he knew what annoyed her most was his asking her on dates all the time. Now it seemed utterly impossible to keep his resolution firm.

Lily smiled shyly at James and took a step towards him. Instantly his heart felt elated and he moved towards her. They began a slow conversation about the weather.

This left Remus, who looked at Amaris speculatively. He glanced to his right and saw the shell shocked Sirius and then two his left to witness James blundering along.

_Well, well this will work out just fine_ and then he walked confidently towards Amaris. She was eyeing him nervously and biting her lower lip. A slow smile crept over her face warming her features.

_Oh how I wish those teeth were biting my lip instead of hers. _Remus shook himself trying to clear the unexpected thought from his head.

The tension in the washroom was slowly mounting. All its occupants started to look at the bathroom stalls nervously. Suddenly Amaris shared an impromptu smile with Lily. The latter immediately caught on and just as the door to the stall began to open they both muttered a spell under their breath.

Sirius had barely regained his composure when the girl who walking through the door shattered it yet again. Faylinn was wearing black satin underwear, a pink and black corset, and had a very cute fluffy tail. Her hair had been tamed by an ingenious charm by Lily. The black stilettos were courtesy of Amaris' conjuring abilities.

When Fay glanced at herself in the mirror her scream was ear piercing. She ran towards the culprit Amaris when she collided with a very solid Sirius. Realizing the amount of skin her costume left so fully exposed she clutched Sirius' robes to herself.

"Oh Fay darling I think this costume is probably making Sirius stare more than your last one." Amaris chuckled smugly.

Suddenly the ease Sirius usually experienced with girls returned miraculously at the close proximity of Fay. She took one long look at his face and the panic she always seemed to feel around Sirius returned full force. She sprinted to the door and miraculously didn't trip even though she was wearing high heels. This time though Sirius wasn't about let her out of his sight. So he ran after her with a determination rarely seen on his handsome face.

Fay was running as fast as she could, not knowing or caring where she was going. How could Amaris embarrass her like that! Things were shaky enough with Sirius, and now…..he probably thought her like all the other dolts who fawned over him. Bitter tears sprung to her eyes as she ceased her frantic pace. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that when someone grabbed her arm and spun her about she was caught completely off guard. She looked up into the worried face of Sirius. His eyes held such concern and something else, but what? Before her thoughts could examine this more closely, footsteps were heard down the hall. Sirius quickly opened a door and dragged Fay into a closet and pulled the door closed behind them

Fay held her breath as she heard Professor Slughorn mutter to himself out in the hall. His footsteps slowly retreated and she felt it was safe to breathe again.

She let her head fall forward to rest against Sirius' chest. She drew in a deep calming breath. She was unprepared for his scent, and it completely overwhelmed her senses. His proximity to her made her heart begin to pound. She could feel a flush rising to her cheeks. His hands which had been resting on her upper arms slowly made their way up to her neck. He took her chin in his hand and raised her face so that he could see her beautiful eyes.

He lowered his head to her neck and lightly brushed it with his lips. One hand stayed at the back of her neck while the other made its way up to wind itself in her unruly hair.

"You really do look good you know," he whispered against her ear. A shiver ran down her back, but not from his words.

Suddenly Sirius seemed to come to his senses and pulled away from her. He quickly turned and left leaving a stunned Fay behind him, completely confused.

On an early morning a few days later the four Marauders were to be found asleep in the Forbidden Forest. The full moon had just set and after a night of adventures they had fallen into a contented doze. A stag, a rat and a large black dog slumbered around an unclad youth. Remus had just transformed and was no longer a vicious werewolf and the others felt it was safe to catch a few winks before making their way off to the castle.

Amaris was awake early that morning, having had trouble falling asleep; she had finally given up and decided to take a walk to clear her head. Nobody would be up at this time of the morning so she made her way steadily towards the Forbidden forest.

The sound of footsteps and the disgruntled mutterings of Amaris reached the ears of three of the Marauders, as Remus was still to exhausted to notice the world around him. James, Sirius and Peter crept off into the surroundings bushes, leaving the poor naked Lupin to be discovered by the wandering Amaris.

"What is wrong with me? I just can't seem to concentrate anymore. I mean for god sake Fay has been feeling like this for months but she still gets work done. And for that matter so has Lily." Amaris berated herself.

The sound so close to his head startled Remus from sleep. _What the hell? Where am I? _That was when he saw the auburn hair bobbing above the bushes. _Uh oh. Amaris. This isn't going to be pretty._ Slowly standing and backing away to avoid her notice he attempted to retreat into the undergrowth. He knew the woods instinctively by this point having wandered them in werewolf form many times in the last six years. However, at his movement Amaris became aware of his presence.

"Remus." The whisper had barely escaped Amaris' lips when she heard a giggle from the bushes behind him. Quickly she took in Lupin's condition from the lack of clothing to the scratches running across his back.

Remus warily watched Amaris studying him and noticed the blush stealing across her features. Without warning she turned on her heels and fled but not before he saw a few stray tears escape.

Suddenly laughter erupted from behind him. He turned an angry face at Sirius, James, and Peter.

"Merlin. You must be _really_ frightening," Sirius chuckled.

**Chapter Four: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!**

As Headboy and Girl, Lily and James were responsible for putting up the Christmas decorations with the rest of the prefects. To their surprise, they eagerly joined by Sirius. Sirius had noticed that Fay had been avoiding him since Halloween and he couldn't for the life figure out why. He had thought that she would be begging for more after that night, but instead she had been avoiding him like the plague. He had to resort to using traditional methods for catching her, but with a typical Padfoot twist. It was no ordinary mistletoe that he was hanging around the castle, but rather mistletoe that had been charmed to keep its victim in place until a kiss had released them. He was going to follow Faylinn around catch her beneath it if it was the last thing he did…at least for this year.

Unfortunately, he hadn't informed anyone else of this and Lily was now trapped beneath the mistletoe hung down the fifth floor corridor. Her face matched the colour of her hair and her curses could be heard at the other end of the hall. Lucky for her James had been whiling away the hours watching Lily walk around on the Marauder's Map, and when she had become stationary for such a long stretch of time, he had decided to investigate.

"Lily, what are you doing?" he asked concernedly.

"Doing? _Doing_!? I'm not _doing_ anything, thanks to your stupid, meddling friend Sirius- he's bewitched the mistletoe and I can't leave!" she replied with obvious exasperation.

James regarded her with a mischievous grin spreading across his face. _Note to self: thank Sirius later_, he thought to himself.

"Well, do you want me to go get a professor, I'm sure they'd be able to-"

"NO! No, don't you dare leave me Potter! I've been here for close to an hour, I'm not staying any longer!"

"Oh, well, in that case-" he replied as he stepped up to her, but didn't make any motion to pull out his wand.

"What are you doing James?" she asked nervously.

"I'm going to get you free" he replied stepping even closer.

"What? I…" her response was cut short as James kissed her soundly.

Suddenly she could move again.

"Oh…um... I…thanks James." His closeness was making her nervous and sending shivers down her back.

"No problem, anytime Lily" he huskily replied.

She smiled shyly back at him before turning and heading back to their Common room leaving a bemused James behind her.

Lily, Faylinn and Amaris lounged contentedly in the commons room of Gryffindor tower. It was Christmas morning and Faylinn was staring at a pair of socks with pink bunnies on them that were sitting in her lap. She seemed caught between laughter and anger. Probably because she had never been able to resolve why Sirius had taken her into that stupid closet and, what was worse, left her there.

Amaris retreated to a comfy chair by the fire and began to read her Christmas present, a book called "Dating for Dummies: The Inept Witches Guide to Romance," from Lily and Fay. She was chuckling at the page when Sirius, Remus and James entered the room. Lily quickly withdrew from Faylinn and walked to a vacant chair on the opposite side of the commons.

Sirius espied Fay immediately and sat down on the arm of her chair. She looked up at him nervously but she couldn't hide the shy smile creeping over her face. _Damn I wish my mistletoe plan had worked_ Sirius thought with regret. He grasped for topic to discuss with her.

"Amaris has been cool to Lupin for a while now. What's up for her?"

"What do you mean what's up with her!? She saw Remus naked in the woods with another girl." Faylinn nearly jumped out of her seat as she shouted this at the insensitive prat. Suddenly, she realized Remus was in the room as well and Amaris had a look of absolute terror on her face.

"There wasn't any girl. You couldn't have possibly seen that." Remus shouted and spun around to glare at Amaris. She looked sheepishly at the ground.

"Well, I didn't really see her I just heard a giggle." Amaris looked as if she was halfway between getting ready to cry or shout.

"Well I guess Peter really does sound like a girl" Remus said with amusement turning his scowl into a lopsided grin. Once his remark had sunk in everyone broke out laughing except Amaris who still looked confused.

"You set him up didn't you." Lily said laughing and scowling at the same time.

"Wouldn't deny it dear," James responded with wry chuckle.

"Well I guess you justified your nickname yet again Moony" Sirius chuckled evilly.

"Anybody fancy a stroll." This remark seemed rather random, especially coming from Amaris. However, she was probably trying to cover more than one individual's embarrassment. Everyone quickly agreed and the group made their way outside within a short period of time. Relatively speaking, since there were many return trips for forgotten gloves and scarves, the seven youths proceeded out on to the pristine white castle grounds.

Once outside the girls decided that it would be a wonderful idea to make a snowman. However Amaris kept throwing envious glances at the boys who were having a fierce snowball fight. Suddenly a snowball flew across the land and hit Lily on the back of the head. That was the cue that Amaris had been waiting for and she eagerly returned fire, sending the boys scrambling for cover. Soon both Lily and Faylinn had joined in, but with none of the skill or enthusiasm of the others. Giggling madly they attempted to creep around and catch James and Sirius unprepared, but failed spectacularly. Lily received a face full of snow and Fay, seeing her friend's fate, turned and ran, heading back to the safety of the castle.

Unfortunately, she didn't make it that far before Sirius caught up with her. He tackled her and brought her crashing into a snow drift. The snow flew up around them and fell gently back to the ground. Faylinn's heart was racing within her chest, and not just from the exertion of running. Sirius lay above her, his hair falling into his silver eyes. His gaze was riveted on her face, and she hungrily looked back at him. Was it her imagination or could she feel his heart beat as strongly as hers within his own chest? The mist of her breath floated up to surround his face, giving him an ethereal look. Starring into her eyes he lowered his head to hers. When their lips met Faylinn thought her heart would burst with happiness. The conscious part of her brain was aware of the cold snow against her back, but that was only a very small part. The rest of her mind was completely consumed by him; the feel of his lips on hers, his hands in her hair, the feel of his liquid night hair beneath her hands.

The moment was broken by loud whistling from the others, and both Faylinn and Sirius reluctantly broken their embrace to look sheepishly back at their friends.

Helping her to her feet, Sirius and Faylinn returned to their friends just in time to see Amaris take a handful of snow and stuff it down Remus' shirt. With a high pitched yell he turned to Amaris, who quickly turned and ran off into the forbidden Forest, laughing evilly.

Remus inhaled deeply as he entered the trees. He saw Amaris up ahead dodging around some particularly large fir trees, but he continued to run at steady pace. The familiarity of the forest allowed him easily to avoid any unsure footing. After all he had explored every corner of this wood in his werewolf form. The scent of the evergreens was strong at this time of the year when there weren't many scents to dilute them, except of course her scent. Remus could have been blind and still tracked her it was so distinct. _Clever,_ he thought._ She's circling behind me._

He turned in the opposite direction of the one Amaris had gone and made a wide loop till he was directly behind her. Before she could process what was happening she was pinned against a tree and looking into his startling amber eyes.

"Oh, how lovely…" he muttered, not realizing he had spoken until Amaris gave him a questioning look.

"What?" she asked.

"Your hair; it looks so beautiful; brown with just that hint of red that turns gold when the sun shines through it, like now." He lifted his hand to run it through her shining hair and ending with his hand resting on her cheek.

Amaris would have assumed he was playing a prank on her except that he had that serious and sincere look that only Lupin seemed to have mastered. Suddenly, she became aware of just how close he was standing and her pulse quickened as he leaned down and ever so gently brushed his lips against hers. For an instant Amaris doubted that he had until she felt herself lean forward and kiss him in return. Remus looked slight shocked before deepening their kiss ever so slightly. When they pulled apart Amaris was unable to stop a small sigh from escaping her lips, but she quickly settled into the comfortable feeling of being held by Remus' strong arms while his breath on her neck sent shivers down her spine.

Back in front of the castle, Lily and James were sitting on the front steps laughing, while Faylinn and Sirius were putting finishing touches on the Snowman, after having made a snowwoman too. Peter looked at the scene darkly before storming off

"Why is it always me who's left out?" he muttered to himself before disappearing from view.


End file.
